Converting monsters from Dragon magazine
- Thread starter Shade
- Start date
I've been slowly reading through the various threads y'all have done converting the various monsters from old issues of Dragon magazines and its been great fun for me.
While I do intend to eventually read through all of them (and of course they keep getting longer as I read with new posts) I've got a favor to ask that's hopefully not too much of an imposition. I've got a question that someone who has been a regular in these threads might be able to answer. My apologies if its already been asked.
I'm working on... well, its almost a scavenger hunt, with a number of other people. I'm looking for an extremely obscure monster with a fairly specific set of abilities. Here's a link: MitD V: MitD and the Templates of Doom (Please Read the First Post) - Giant in the Playground Forums to the current version of the thread and the background.
We've gone through all of the regular reference books (at least, I believe so) but we haven't really gone through the issues of Dragon because no one seems to have them. But the folks here probably have, so I figured I'd ask.
In a nutshell, the monster has to be:
1) Powerful - Min CR of 14-16 and really probably 18+
2) Not terribly big - Huge or smaller, ideally Large
3) Extremely strong - Minimum STR of 30 or so (alternatively, really powerful telekinesis or the like could work)
4) Very tough to injure - Near Epic or Epic defenses against physical attacks, though some combination of high DR, extremely high HP or high AC
5) Able to teleport others at a distance - So, access to greater teleport though something like Wish or equivalent would arguably work better
6) Really freaky looking (no specifics, but it must be hard to recognize and fills viewers with a strong sense of fear or disgust. However, its not so strong as to be an actual effect aura)
7) Must eat and sleep and be sentient (so not a construct or undead or elemental. Outsider is probably ok, though)
There's a ton more detail in the link but I wanted to get the key points across here. So, anything ring bell?
Edit - To be clear, the stats are of a 3.5 version of the monster (no un-updated monsters from Dragon will have a STR of 30, obviously). Also, its not the Tarrasque with a bunch of templates. Or if it is, we're all going to be really upset.
While I do intend to eventually read through all of them (and of course they keep getting longer as I read with new posts) I've got a favor to ask that's hopefully not too much of an imposition. I've got a question that someone who has been a regular in these threads might be able to answer. My apologies if its already been asked.
I'm working on... well, its almost a scavenger hunt, with a number of other people. I'm looking for an extremely obscure monster with a fairly specific set of abilities. Here's a link: MitD V: MitD and the Templates of Doom (Please Read the First Post) - Giant in the Playground Forums to the current version of the thread and the background.
We've gone through all of the regular reference books (at least, I believe so) but we haven't really gone through the issues of Dragon because no one seems to have them. But the folks here probably have, so I figured I'd ask.
In a nutshell, the monster has to be:
1) Powerful - Min CR of 14-16 and really probably 18+
2) Not terribly big - Huge or smaller, ideally Large
3) Extremely strong - Minimum STR of 30 or so (alternatively, really powerful telekinesis or the like could work)
4) Very tough to injure - Near Epic or Epic defenses against physical attacks, though some combination of high DR, extremely high HP or high AC
5) Able to teleport others at a distance - So, access to greater teleport though something like Wish or equivalent would arguably work better
6) Really freaky looking (no specifics, but it must be hard to recognize and fills viewers with a strong sense of fear or disgust. However, its not so strong as to be an actual effect aura)
7) Must eat and sleep and be sentient (so not a construct or undead or elemental. Outsider is probably ok, though)
There's a ton more detail in the link but I wanted to get the key points across here. So, anything ring bell?
Edit - To be clear, the stats are of a 3.5 version of the monster (no un-updated monsters from Dragon will have a STR of 30, obviously). Also, its not the Tarrasque with a bunch of templates. Or if it is, we're all going to be really upset.
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freyar
Extradimensional Explorer
Oy, you're trying to figure out the Monster in the Darkness? Good luck! I can't say I've ever tried very hard to figure it out.... But you might want to dig through the Creature Catalog and just check what we've got there.
By the way, I'd be happy to continue this discussion (a summary of current best guesses would be interesting), but we'd appreciate if you'd start another thread, so we can leave this one for conversion talk. Thanks!
By the way, I'd be happy to continue this discussion (a summary of current best guesses would be interesting), but we'd appreciate if you'd start another thread, so we can leave this one for conversion talk. Thanks!
Cleon
Legend
Updating the Quakedancers Working Draft.
I think we can come up with something a little more elaborate than that!
Cleon
Legend
How about this. It's a bit more specific about what it's doing than I normally like, but I thought that's appropriate in this case...
This six-legged reptilian brute is enormous, but appears slow and placid. Its elephantine body supports a long neck balanced by an equally long tail. It lifts its small head to glance at you with an expression of dull-witted indifference, then returns to the vegetation it is examining.
freyar
Extradimensional Explorer
That's pretty good! Do we just need the background flavor? Quakedancers are canivorous beasts related to dinosaurs that have developed an unusual means of hunting. They appear similar to herbivorous dinosaurs, but they have the ability to generate subsonic waves that can stun their prey...
Cleon
Legend
And pretty Updated.
Looks that way.
Hmm, that seems contradictory by the original text, particularly.
"It is not a true dinosaur."
"The quakedancer is really omnivorous."
We could also do something with.
"careful to hunt only in level, stable areas away from other predators" (to prevent their prey being stolen or crevasses rendering prey inaccessible).
"These beasts have no lairs" (due to them devastating the land) "constantly on the move looking for new hunting grounds where they are not feared by the local wildlife".
Reproduction: Annually lay 2d10 eggs in a burrow in newly devastated areas, then abandoned. Quakedancers grow shockingly fast. Sexual maturity at five years old & 50' length. Rumors claim that quakedancers never die of old age.
Legends of the "First Quaker".
Hmm, do you want to do anything with that?
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